Assassin's Creed: Revelations

"I have lived my life to the best of my ability. But I have not been able to escape fate, anger, or pain. Bring me the answers and the road that leads to the truth. Reveal to me once and for all, how all of this will end."

Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a 2011 video game published by Ubisoft and was developed by its subsidiary, Ubisoft Montreal. A direct sequel and follow-up to 2010's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Revelations is the fourth main installment of the series.[1][2]

Contents

Gameplay

Revelations retains the gameplay from its preceding titles, albeit considerably renewed. Free-running has been improved with the addition of the Hookblade, a key item given to Ezio that helps him traverse the city faster and more efficiently. To coincide with the Hookblade, numerous ziplines could be found all over the city's rooftops, which decreases travel time.

Ezio navigating the city using a zipline

In addition to navigation, the Hookblade is also used for combat, and is also one of the newer gameplay elements in fighting. With the Hookblade, Ezio is able to pickpocket an enemy mid-combat, as well as using it to be an aid in escaping combat – utilizing the "hook-and-run" technique – and creating environment hazards, such as causing a scaffold to fall.

Aside from the Hookblade, a multitude of bombs have been introduced alongside an improved version of previous games' smoke bombs. Ezio can utilize a wide selection of bombs, ranging from lethal effects and traps, to distraction purposes and chase-breakers. To do this, Ezio can craft from numerous stations situated across Constantinople, using a variety of materials that change the effectiveness and the overall use of the bomb.

Ezio's Eagle Vision has also been revamped, with added features resulting in the maturation of the technique. Now known as "Eagle Sense," Ezio is able to track his enemies and pick off their individual trails, making tailing people more efficient. In addition, Eagle Sense can also discern disguised enemies, the scent of datura, and the heartbeat of an individual.

Ezio coordinating a Den Defense

Replacing the Borgia Towers are the Assassin Dens, towers which act as strongholds for the Assassins, but differing in that they can be reclaimed by the Templars; whenever Ezio's notoriety would reach its peak, Templars would attack an Assassin-occupied Den. In order to defend the Den, Ezio must take up its defense, whereby numerous Assassin units of different specializations can be stationed over nearby rooftops to defeat the invading Templars. Numerous abilities can also be used to help defend the den, such as barricades and cannons.

Following this, the recruiting system has been considerably built upon. The highest rank has been increased to 15, which can only be attained by a handful of Ezio's apprentices. Ezio can then station these advanced apprentices to the numerous Assassin Dens scattered around the city, from which they can permanently eliminate the possibility of a Den invasion. In addition, several Master Assassin missions can be initiated, which is needed for an Apprentice to reach their fifteenth rank. Several more Apprentices can also be stationed in numerous cities to perform contracts, meaning Ezio can train a total of 72 apprentices, excluding the location of Rhodes.

A section of Desmond's Journey

Revelations also includes several new additions to the environment, such as random events that Ezio can take part in. These include helping several civilians carry their items, or fighters challenging Ezio to a brawl. Also, another new feature is the addition of stalkers; Templar assailants who come after Ezio at any given time. Despite this, Ezio can perceive when a stalker is nearby through the addition of sound cues composed of whispers, and can promptly counter their attempts.

The modern day gameplay of Desmond has been revamped considerably; several memories of Desmond's past can be relived through the Animus Island, which can be unlocked by collecting Animus data fragments. These memories are displayed completely in a first-person perspective, and uses a puzzle-building mechanic that allows Desmond to generate two different block pieces to navigate through the obstacles. Along the way, specific events of Desmond's life prior to Revelations can be seen.

Multiplayer

Like its predecessor, Revelations came with a multiplayer portion, explained as the progression of the Animi Training Program to its second stage. This featured new modes, maps, [abilities, and characters to refine the experience. Additionally, a story arc was introduced alongside expanded customization features, allowing participants to choose their own weapons and change their appearance.

In this regard, Abstergo Industries issued credits which would be awarded after a session's finish, that could then be used to purchase items within their digital store.

Within the Black Room, Desmond met the virtual construct of Abstergo's sixteenth test subject, Clay Kaczmarek, who explained that in order for Desmond to regain his consciousness, he must relive the remaining memories of his ancestor – Ezio Auditore da Firenze – until a Synch Nexus triggered. Entering a digital portal within the Black Room, Desmond began to experience the genetic record of the aged Ezio's life, who was now in his early 50s, as the Assassin made his way to Masyaf.

In March of 1511, Ezio traveled to Masyaf after he discovered a letter by his late father regarding the secret library of the Assassin Mentor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad – that was rumored to contain his invaluable knowledge – hidden beneath the old Assassin fortress. There, he was greeted by a battalion of Templars led by Leandros, whose forces managed to overwhelm Ezio in a fight; in the midst of his execution, Ezio escaped and made his way back into the fortress. He later found the entrance to the library, but learned that it needed special keys in order for it to be unlocked.

The hired worker that was present in the antechamber to the library mentioned to Ezio that the Templars found one of the keys beneath the Ottoman Sultan's palace, while speculating that the book held by Leandros would lead them to the others. With this in mind, Ezio set out of the fortress to take the book from Leandros, and eventually killed the Templar captain at Atlas Village after a long chase. After obtaining the book, Ezio set out for Constantinople, where the rest of the keys were hidden.

Yusuf welcoming Ezio to Constantinople

By May, Ezio had arrived at Constantinople, where he met a young man before docking, and was greeted by the leader of the local guild, Yusuf Tazim, right after his arrival. Yusuf gave Ezio a tour of the city, introducing him to the guild and showing what was left of the Byzantine empire within the city. Ezio also received a Hookblade and was taught how to use it. In return, Ezio later assisted with defending and retaking some of the city's Assassin Dens from the Templars.

After helping the guild recruit a few new initiates and being taught how to use bombs, Ezio went to the first location of the keys: the old trading post of Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, now a bookshop owned by Sofia Sartor, a woman whom Ezio first saw during his ferry to the city. After an introduction, Ezio found an entrance into the Yerebatan Cistern, where he found the first key along with a tome and an encrypted map that led to rare books which held the location of the other keys. Striking up a mutual agreement, Ezio made a promise with Sofia: if she helped decipher the map, he would let her borrow and print a few copies of the books.

Ezio and Yusuf preparing to save Suleiman

In the midst of his search, Ezio helped Yusuf save the Ottoman prince from a planned assassination. Dressed as a minstrel, Ezio managed to stop the assassination, which earned him the favor of the prince; the same young man whom he met on his way to the city, Suleiman I. Following this, Ezio later met with Suleiman in order to learn of the perpetrator behind the attack, whom they suspected was the Janissary captain, Tarik Barleti.

Tailing Tarik, Ezio soon found out that the man had dealings with Manuel Palaiologos, the former heir of the Byzantine throne; with this knowledge, Suleiman requested that Ezio assassinate Tarik. However, in his dying moment, Tarik revealed that his forces were to ambush Manuel after gaining his favor. Before dying, Tarik entrusted Ezio to continue his plan, and set sail for Cappadocia.

In between his tasks for Suleiman, Ezio continually searched for the books with Sofia's help, all the while gaining her favor and assisting her with some errands. Ezio grew fond of Sofia's company, but he could not reveal his affiliations or occupation to her, for he feared that it would endanger her. She and Ezio eventually had to part ways for the time being, as Sofia sailed for Adrianopoli; before leaving, Ezio left Sofia to Yusuf's care during his absence. With each book, he was able to retrieve one of the keys from one of the many secret locations, and with each one, he was able to relive some key moments of Altaïr's life.

Altaïr speaking with Rashid ad-Din Sinan

The first key showed his heroic efforts in 1190, where Altaïr saved Masyaf from an attack by the traitor Haras. The second key detailed his Mentor Rashid ad-Din Sinan's pyre and Abbas Sofian's failed rebellion through utilizing an Apple of Eden, which Altaïr later retrieved. The third memory detailed Altaïr's fall from power in 1228; after defeating Genghis Khan's army with his son Darim and wife Maria, Altaïr found out that Abbas had usurped command from Altaïr's appointed proxy Malik Al-Sayf, and that his son Sef was murdered by Swami, Abbas' right-hand man.

Altaïr confronted Abbas and his loyalists, but was overcome with rage and used the Apple for revenge, which ultimately caused the death of both Swami and Maria. In the wake of this incident, Altaïr left Masyaf with Darim before Abbas could apprehend them. The fourth key showed Altaïr's return to power in 1247, with the help of several Assassins who grew tired of Abbas' rule; he achieved this through Abbas' death at his hands, where Altaïr used his newly crafted Hidden Gun.

All the while reliving Ezio's last memories, Desmond had several encounters with Clay in the Animus Island, also overhearing conversations between his father, Rebecca, and Shaun. Desmond also relived his own memories in a very different simulation, wherein he reached the core of the Animus. There, a recollection of his life was told; Desmond grew up in a small community called "The Farm," but soon fled due to his parents' strict rule. There he drifted from place to place, eventually settling in New York, and found a job as a bartender at a venue named Bad Weather. His recollection lasted up until his capture by Abstergo, and his time in their facility.

Ezio arriving at Derinkuyu in Cappadocia

Returning to Ezio, the Assassin arrived at Cappadocia by March 1512 with Piri Reis, after destroying Constantinople's Great Chain. There, he met with Tarik's informant Dilara at the city of Derinkuyu. Dilara was eventually captured after she and Ezio parted ways, and was being held by Shahkulu, Palaiologos' partner. With haste, Ezio rescued Dilara, though she departed to save what was left of her men from Shahkulu. In the city, they learned that Shahkulu planned to beat one of Dilara's men, Janos, to death; Ezio stopped the public beating and killed Shahkulu after a tough fight. Afterwards, Ezio planned to burn the fake artillery given to Manuel by Tarik, which will cause the artillery's authentic gunpowder to explode.

Ezio was successful in infiltrating the city's armory, and managed to cause an explosion that ensued enough chaos to draw out Manuel Palaiologos. The Assassin then managed to corner Manuel after a long chase, and killed him before he could escape by the city's inner harbor. As a result, Ezio managed to obtain the last key from Manuel. Just then, Ezio saw Prince Ahmet – uncle of Suleiman and whom Ezio had encountered on several occasions – on a ship with the Byzantines. Ahmet revealed his true role as the Byzantine Templars' leader. There, he threatened Ezio into handing over the key, and after the Assassin's refusal, Ahmet threatened to hold Sofia Sartor captive. Despite Ezio's warnings, Ahmet went ahead and set sail back to Constantinople. Hurriedly, Ezio escaped the burning city and made his way back to his boat, and on the way back, he relived the fifth key's memory of Altaïr's life.

Altaïr passing his Codex to Niccolò Polo

The fifth key revealed Altaïr's twilight years in 1257; Niccolò and Maffeo Polo were preparing to leave for Constantinople, to establish a guild, after their stay in Masyaf. At the time, the invading Mongols drew near the city. Altaïr gave the brothers his Codex as a parting gift, and escorted them out of the city with Darim, defeating any Mongol who drew near by using his Apple of Eden. As the brothers left on their horses, Altaïr gave him the keys, which he asked to be hidden from others, so that the one who was meant to know the message could seek it out.

Ezio later returned to Constantinople, hurriedly making his way to Sofia's book shop. There, he found a platoon of Assassins dead, as well as Yusuf, who had a message for Ezio attached to his corpse via a dagger to the back. Filled with rage at the slaughter, Ezio made his way to the Harbor of Theodosius and stormed the area with the guild's many apprentices. There he found Ahmet, and threatened him for Sofia's location. However, he only agreed to release her on the condition that Ezio meet him by the Galata Tower with all of the Masyaf keys. As Ahmet left, Suleiman revealed himself to Ezio, who asked him to stop his uncle's ambitions, without killing him if possible.

Ezio later met with Ahmet after appointing a new leader for the Turkish guild. During the meeting, Ahmet had one of his men hold Sofia by the edge of the Galata Tower. Pressured into a decision, Ezio gave the keys to Ahmet and went to Sofia's rescue. However, the woman was only a decoy, and the real Sofia was about to be hanged somewhere else. Ezio hurriedly made his way to her, managing to save her in time. As Sofia recovered, Ezio watched as Ahmet's carriage left the city, before he spurred himself and Sofia onto one of their own to give chase. Fortunately, Ezio managed to catch up to Ahmet by the city's countryside, eventually causing his carriage to fall, along with Ahmet and himself. As they fought while falling, Ezio utilized his parachute to save himself and Ahmet, managing to land safely. The Assassin then retrieved the keys while contemplating what to do with Ahmet.

Sofia stopping Ezio from attacking Selim

As he did however, Ahmet's brother – Selim I – arrived with a platoon of Ottoman guards and Janissaries. Surprised, Ahmet ordered the troops to stand down in the name of the sultan, Bayezid II, though unbeknownst to him, Selim had been named the new Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; Selim then murdered his brother by pushing him off of a nearby cliff. Meeting with Ezio, Selim went on to threaten that Ezio be killed if he returned to Constantinople, sparing him only due to Suleiman's good word. As tensions grew between the two men, Ezio's rage was only quelled by Sofia, and as Selim left, so too did Ezio and Sofia, heading for Masyaf.

After returning to Animus Island one last time, Desmond became witness to the Animus' scheduled deletion, seeing everything dissolve in front of him. Clay, knowing full well what was going on, embraced Desmond one last time and then pushed him back into the digital portal, saving him from being deleted by sacrificing himself. Desmond hesitantly left Clay and the Island, and relived the last of Ezio's memories.

Ezio and Sofia arrived at Masyaf, with Ezio explaining the history of the Assassins and its creed along the way. There, Ezio reflected upon his life and decided to retire after learning the contents of the library, to spend the rest of his time with Sofia. Arriving at the library's door, Ezio utilized the five keys and managed to solve the puzzle etched into it, before he made his way inside and soon found the library; void of books, except for the seated remains of Altaïr. His corpse held one last key, where his last major memory was imprinted.

Ezio discovering Altaïr's remains

By the end of 1257, Altaïr had emptied the fortress and had all of his Assassins dispersed. Meeting with Darim one last time, Altaïr ordered him to leave so that the fortress would be empty when the Mongols returned, him staying within the library along with the Apple. Embracing his son one last time, Altaïr locked himself in the library, and then placed the Apple on a pedestal. The Assassin then sat on one of the chairs, holding his last key and imprinted his memory before dying at the age of 92.

After reliving Altaïr's final memory, Ezio went to inspect the Mentor's Apple of Eden by the pedestal, though he decided it best for the Piece of Eden to stay where it was, before finally laying down his arms as a sign of his retirement. There, the Apple activated, as Ezio called out to Desmond. The Assassin admitted and accepted his existence as a conduit for a message not meant for him, asking Desmond to make the bloodshed in his life mean something. As an apparition of Desmond appeared, Ezio reached out for him, triggering the Synch Nexus.

Desmond meeting with Jupiter within the Synch Nexus

Within the Nexus, Desmond met Jupiter. There, the ultimate fate of the First Civilization was revealed: their people had several temples built to study ways on how to save themselves from the coming of a great calamity about to occur. Each temple tried different methods in stopping the event, and had their data subsequently transmitted to the Grand Temple. Despite their efforts, their methods proved to be ineffective, which eventually caused the downfall of their civilization, bringing them to near extinction, as well as humanity. Jupiter then showed the location of the Grand Temple to Desmond, which was in New York. Jupiter, along with Minerva and Juno, entrusted Desmond to stop the coming of the second catastrophe.

After hearing the words of Jupiter, Desmond awoke from his coma, and was greeted by his father, Rebecca, and Shaun. As he stood up, Desmond assured the team of what he needed to do; the team then exited the van and make their way to the Grand Temple.

Abstergo Industries

After the first phase of Abstergo's training program, Warren Vidic had Juhani Otso Berg and other recruits enter the second stage of the program. As Berg continued to rise through the ranks, Vidic gave him a glimpse of the life Abstergo had to offer. In return, Berg impressed Vidic, enough to gain access into the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order. Upon meeting Laetitia England, Berg was injected with a tracking device by Daniel Cross. Later, Berg and other Abstergo agents were informed of the whereabouts of William Miles and subsequently instructed to retrieve him.

Development

The idea behind Assassin's Creed: Revelations was initially conceived for a game in Nintendo's newest portable console, the Nintendo 3DS, and was originally titled Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy. The original plot involved Ezio journeying to the fortress of Masyaf to uncover Altaïr's secrets, which Revelations would later adopt. Lost Legacy was quietly canceled, and had been extensively reworked into Revelations.

Despite Jean-Francois Boivin releasing a statement that no Assassin's Creed game would be released in 2011, Yves Guillemot hinted that there would be "something Assassin's related" that year. True enough, a teaser regarding the game and its title was released on the Assassin's Creed Facebook page, and flashed several hints regarding the story and setting, such as images of Constantinople and Masyaf, and information regarding the former protagonist Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. That same year on 5 May, GameInformer released details and screenshots about the game, such as showing images of an older Ezio Auditore and new weapons like that of the Hookblade. The game was then officially announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) of 2011.

Beta

On 3 September 2011, PlayStation Plus members and PlayStation Uplay members were able to participate in a beta for Revelations' multiplayer, which ran until 17 September 2011. All PlayStation Network users were also able to access the beta on 8 September 2011, five days later. During this beta, nine characters, three maps, and four game modes could be accessed.

Note: This edition could only be pre-ordered online from GameStop's Canadian website and was only available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Ultimate Bundle (USA)

The Signature Edition of Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

An action figure of Ezio Auditore.

A replica of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine, for use with the Ezio action figure.

Note: This edition could only be pre-ordered online from GameStop's United States website, and was only available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Ottoman Edition

The Ancestor’s Character Pack

The Mediterranean Traveller Map Pack

The Lost Archive DLC

Note The Game of the Year Edition of Revelations was released on 27 March in the U.S. and 30 March in Europe.

Awards

Won

Spike TV Video Game Awards

"GameTrailers.com Trailer of the Year"

Nominated

Spike TV Video Game Awards

"Best Action/Adventure Game" - Lost to Batman: Arkham City

Trivia

In the original concept and on the game's boxart, it can be seen that the Hookblade was intended to be an upgrade for the left Hidden Blade, much like all of the other Hidden Blade upgrades to date. However, in the final version of Revelations, the Hookblade acted as a replacement for Ezio's broken right blade.

Revelations was the first Assassin's Creed game in which Ezio's default outfit was not white. It was also the first game where his default outfit did not have a cape, although he did wear one before his arrival at Masyaf.

The lack of a missing ring finger on the Levantine Assassins previously seen in Assassin's Creed was corrected in Revelations.

Altaïr's voice was provided by Cas Anvar, who spoke with a Middle-Eastern accent authentic to Altaïr, unlike his Western accent heard in Assassin's Creed provided by Philip Shahbaz. Altaïr's Middle-Eastern accent was only previously heard in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines.

Despite the crossbow having been originally removed from Assassin's Creed due to historical inaccuracies, it made an appearance in one of Altaïr's memories, being used by Haras to execute several Assassins.